PAs

[beesonthewhatnow]

The trend is for small boxes these days, especially from big name brands. All this JCVs on chains is a tragedy

Why a tragedy? A good line array can sound fantastic...

 

[Kameron]

stand in front of the munt/bar link up and tell me that isnt loud AND good quality.

I think you are right, the best party sound I've heard is defiantly Munt or Munt link ups but they are the exceptional parties most of the time you are in a warehouse where the roller blinds vibrate, the sound is fucked up by badly shaped rooms, poorly divided halls will very high ceilings. Most parties don't sound all that good. There are just some rigs who have played some places where they sounded fucking awesome.

However these are dance music rigs, they tend to lack sensitivity in the low range; they are almost all set up for mono both high and low most of the time so techno rarely sounds like it does in my bedroom. That isn't to say that they are worse than clubs though, I was seriously not impressed by Lost/SE1 though again even bad buildings starting sounding much better when they are full of people to mop up the sound.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

stand in front of the munt/bar link up and tell me that isnt loud AND good quality.

There are a couple of good rigs out there, but you can have the best kit in the world and still be fucked over by the acoustics of a particular venue. Add to that the fact that due to the vey nature of free parties kit is often rigged quickly, with little time to find optimum speaker positions and crossover/EQ settings and you have a recipie for crap (from a techie POV) sound.

Don't get me wrong, what most of the party crews achieve is great, but good sound it aint.

But then hifi sound isn't exactly the point of a free party

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I was seriously not impressed by Lost/SE1

SE1 is a bastard of a venue to get decent sound in, the arches bounce sound all over the place. I once spent around 4 hours swearing at a Nexo rig in there trying to get it to sound halfway decent

 

[sam/phallocrat]

i agree on the earplugs front but alot of PAs kick out the bad tinnitus inducing frequencies, i think that is the point, a good PA doesn't, the ear isn't linear.

Fair enough . . . however a lot of sound engineers have had their ears fucked early on in the working lives so they tend to whack up the top end to compensate, thus leading to more fucked ears; I suspect this happens whatever the size or quality of a rig. I'm perfectly happy to be corrected, but loud is loud is loud, no?

 

[sam/phallocrat]

fuck's sake fucking double cunting post

 

[Dan U]

Best London club soundsystem nominations? -

Heaven is crisp - bins waaay up high, if you stand in the right place its amazing - if you stand in the wrong place you get no tops at all! DnB sounds sick in there...

The rig in the Fridge is great - Big cabinets stacked up - all along the wall.

...in fact "gay" venues are often the best all round. Tidy and well decorated too.

I think the Telegraph has a great set - clear and loud, but you can talk without shouting your head off and doesnt leave your ears ringing.

i couldnt agree less.

the Telegraph is gutless.
Last time i heard the Fridge (a few years admittedly) it was distorted rubbish

 

[Dan U]

I think you are right, the best party sound I've heard is defiantly Munt or Munt link ups but they are the exceptional parties most of the time you are in a warehouse where the roller blinds vibrate, the sound is fucked up by badly shaped rooms, poorly divided halls will very high ceilings. Most parties don't sound all that good. There are just some rigs who have played some places where they sounded fucking awesome.

However these are dance music rigs, they tend to lack sensitivity in the low range; they are almost all set up for mono both high and low most of the time so techno rarely sounds like it does in my bedroom. That isn't to say that they are worse than clubs though, I was seriously not impressed by Lost/SE1 though again even bad buildings starting sounding much better when they are full of people to mop up the sound.

fully with you on the buildings, if its a space youve 'borrowed' accoustics are secondary.

but the kit is definitely good enough to sound sick.
those 9bar labs crack concrete

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Fair enough . . . however a lot of sound engineers have had their ears fucked early on in the working lives so they tend to whack up the top end to compensate, thus leading to more fucked ears; I suspect this happens whatever the size or quality of a rig. I'm perfectly happy to be corrected, but loud is loud is loud, no?

Ultimately, yes, loud will damage your ears no matter what. However, by getting a flat frequency response you can limit one particular frequency being more prominant and thus potentially causing damage/fatigue.